Raptors players see tonight's game against the Detroit Pistons, who also have started the season 3-0, as a big measuring stick -- even if coach Sam Mitchell wants to take that rod and bust it over the heads of media members.

Mitchell thought we were over-hyping this clash of undefeated teams, spiced up by the arrival of Allen Iverson to the Pistons.

"How many games do we have left?" Mitchell demanded yesterday at the Air Canada Centre. "Seventy-nine right? And we've got measuring-stick games already? It's the biggest game of the year? What are we measuring?"

Houston guard Steve Francis made a political fashion statement before the Rockets played the Boston Celtics last night.

Francis, who has been out since last season because of a knee injury, arrived at the arena wearing a red velvet sports jacket with "Barack Obama" spelled on the back in sequins. Francis said he would try to attend Obama's inauguration.

It's a grand tradition of slow-news-day speculation that probably peaked at the height of the Vinsanity, when then-coach Butch Carter spouted conspiracy theories about the NBA plotting to abscond with Vince Carter to a big U.S. market. But these days you can't even count on the local coach to fuel the flame

"That's what we need in the world – more stupidity," said Sam Mitchell, speaking of the sudden buzz around Bosh 2010. "Like, we don't have enough, so we need to just create some stupidity."

"He's really tough on his point guards, as we all know, but looking back at the last two years, I kind of liked Larry Brown,'' Marbury said after mostly watching practice yesterday. "So I'm like, `Man, I wish this guy was here to drill me now.'''

"I'll worry about that boat when it gets here," Bosh said when asked about free agency and the way teams such as Detroit are jockeying to have the resources to sign top players. "I just stay focused on what I'm doing. If I get too far ahead, I'm not going to do well and then they're not going to want me. No one will. I just try to stay grounded in what I do right now and it's been working out for me."

"We believe that we are better than the other team - whether we are right or wrong - as long as we mentally believe, we are giving ourselves a shot every single night," O'Neal said Monday. "If we don't believe we can play with whomever, we won't win."

Toronto Raptors coach Sam Mitchell was up to his usual business on Tuesday, refusing to delve to deeply into other teams' affairs. On this day, that meant not commenting on the Detroit Pistons — the Raptors' opponent on Wednesday — and their addition of Allen Iverson on Monday.

“It’s the NBA," Mitchell said. "People get traded, if you haven’t heard.”